Scott calls for 'bipartisan' plan to fix Florida's elections

Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday that the state should extend its early voting period to avoid long lines and other chaos at the Florida polls, abruptly reversing a position he vigorously defended before and after the tumultuous November general election.

Gov. Rick Scott

Scott’s about-face came in an interview with CNN, when he said Florida needs to extend its early voting days, limit ballot lengths and give local election supervisors more leeway in selecting early voting sites. The position is 180 degrees from the 2011 law passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Scott that cut early voting days from 14 to eight.

“We need to have bipartisan legislation that deals with three issues,” Scott told CNN interviewer Soledad O’Brien. “One, the length of our ballot. Two, we’ve got to allow our supervisors more flexibility in the size of their polling locations and, three, the number of days we have. We’ve got to look back at the number of days of early voting we had.”

Scott’s comments stunned Democrats, who had been harshly critical of Scott and the Republicans for the shortened early voting period as well as other provisions in the 2011 election law that they said were designed to suppress Democratic voters at the polls.

“It’s bordering on an alternative reality,” said former state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, who wrote Scott urging him to extend the early voting hours after witnessing lines of voters waiting six to seven hours in Miami-Dade County. “He and his colleagues in the Legislature created precisely what happened.

“It was done purposely and willfully and now to pretend like they were surprised by it is utterly ridiculous.”

Scott’s announcement came just hours before former Gov. Charlie Crist — who recently joined the Democratic Party and may challenge Scott in his 2014 re-election bid — testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., leveling his own criticism at Scott and his handling of the election process. It also came as a new poll showed Scott’s popularity sagging.

Crist, who as a Republican governor extended early voting hours in the 2008 presidential race because of long lines, called Florida’s elections “a model for efficiency” four years ago but this year “became once again a late-night TV joke.”

“Gov. Scott refused to take action to ease the lines, in some cases those lines extended to six and seven hours,” Crist said in his prepared remarks. “Election Day confusion led to horrifying lines again on Election Day, which played a role in Florida remaining in the undecided category until Thursday, some two days after the last ballot was cast.”

Gelber contrasted Scott’s response with Crist’s when Crist was confronted with similar circumstances. He said Crist found a way to issue an executive order extending the voting hours “even though he knew it was not going to help his party,” Gelber said.

Scott, Gelber said, never responded to his request.

Scott’s announcement also came while his appointee, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, is preparing a report on election reforms after visiting most of the Florida counties where major problems occurred in the 2012 election.

State House and Senate committees are also reviewing the election problems with the aim of considering potential changes during the 2013 session that begins in March. County elections supervisors have asked for more flexibility in selecting early voting sites, which are now restricted by a 2005 law to libraries, city halls and local election offices.

The elections officials also cited the lengthy 2012 general election ballot — which had 11 state constitutional amendments put on by the Legislature — as another factor in slowing Election Day voters.

Scott, who also cited ballot length as another potential reform, seemed to lay some of the blame for the election problems on the Legislature and the 2011 election law — even though he signed it.

“We had an election bill that was passed my first year in office by the Legislature and approved by the Justice Department, so I complied with the law and when are you governor, you have to comply with the law, that’s what I did,” Scott told CNN. “We do need change.”

Scott’s evolving position on election law underscores the political challenge he faces heading toward a 2014 re-election bid.

A new poll from Quinnipiac University released Wednesday showed a majority of Floridians don’t like his policies, by a 52-32 percent ratio. Nearly one out of every four Republican voters do not like his policies, with 74 percent of the Democrats in opposition and 57 percent of the independent voters.

By a 52-30 percent ratio, Florida voters said Scott does not deserve a second term, the survey showed. And his job approval ratings remain upside down, with 36 percent of the voters approving of his actions as governor and 45 percent disapproving.

Scott even faces uncertainty among his fellow Republicans, with 53 percent of the GOP voters saying they would like to see another Republican challenge him for the nomination in 2014, the pollsters said. However, by a 55-26 percent ratio, GOP voters said Scott deserves a second term and Republicans give Scott a 63-19 percent positive job rating.

Gelber said Scott’s unpopularity with Florida voters was only reinforced by his handling of the 2012 election.

Voters “were standing in line because Gov. Scott wanted them to stand in line,” Gelber said. “I suspect he will and should pay a huge political price because it’s one of the most craven things I’ve ever seen an elected official do.”

Lloyd Dunkelberger

Lloyd Dunkelberger is the Htpolitics.com Capital Bureau Chief.
He can be reached by email or call 850 556-3542.
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Last modified: December 19, 2012
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